42nd Annual Meeting, Objects Session, May 30, "Collaborative study and preservation of coastal Alaskan Native material culture with university students, museum staff, Alutiiq scholars and artists, and the visiting public"

T. Rose Holdcraft presented a decade-long collaborative project between Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (Cambridge, MA) and the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository (Kodiak, AK).  The joint initiative, funded by a IMLS Save America’s Treasures grant in 2011, sought to conserve and enhance access to an at-risk Alaska Native collection in the Peabody Museum. 
The collection includes four Alutiiq kayaks and over 100 associated objects, including harpoons, kayak models, and skin-constructed parkas, pouches, boots, among others.  Items of particular import include a rare warrior’s kayak identified as Alutiiq by its bifurcated bow, as well as the only known example of a full-sized double bladed paddle*. Many of the collection items were acquired from a US Army surveyor working in Alaska circa 1867. At that time, ocean going watercraft remained the primary means of transportation. Alutiiq kayaks are thus culturally and historically significant, yet knowledge of their manufacture method had nearly been lost because their use was formerly preserved largely through oral history.
Alutiiq consultants included Sven Haakanson, former director of the Alutiiq Museum, Alutiiq elder Ronnie Lind, Alutiiq skin-sewer Susan Malutin, and traditionally-trained Kodiak Alutiiq kayak-maker Alfred Naumoff.  Workshops taught at the Peabody included skin sewing techniques by Susan Malutin, and kayak model building by Alfred Naumoff.  In addition to two site visits, video conferencing and camera scopes enabled communication with consultants so that sampling requests, treatment, and housing decisions could collaboratively advance from afar.
A publicly accessible work space was created in the Peabody galleries, in which the treatment of the kayaks and other objects was undertaken.  Conservators were available to answer questions from museum visitors three afternoons per week. Meanwhile, a dedicated Facebook page provided project updates and highlights.  Related educational programs included an object-centered Museum Anthropology course, which was conducted within the gallery work space as well as the lab.
Additionally, PMF-MALDI-TOF was used to characterize skin and sinew thread types. Humpback whale sinew was identified on one kayak, as well as bearded seal skin (formerly presumed to be sea lion skin)! The analytic results enable comparisons between current and historical material use.  Study and stabilization of the collection will enable its long-term loan to the Alutiiq Museum, thereby preserving and repatriating traditional knowledge to the Alutiiq community.
*According to Sven Haakanson, a contemporary Alutiiq artist carved a new paddle from a sketch of the double-bladed original in the Peabody’s collection.  After testing it in Kodiak, he reports that his paddle’s exit from the water is silent as compared to plastic versions.  For those interested, Haakanson plans to teach double-bladed kayak making in Seattle.